An intense Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino reacts during the first half of the championship game against Michigan on Monday at the Georgia Dome. / Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Lopresti, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Lopresti, USA TODAY Sports

ATLANTA â?? They posed together as a family after one of the greatest days in Rick Pitino's life. A whole gaggle of them at midcourt of the Georgia Dome, waiting for all the photographers to finish and savoring the moment.

In the morning had been his selection to the Hall of Fame. In the evening, an historic national championship. Earlier in the weekend had been his horse moving into Kentucky Derby contention, and son Richard landing the Minnesota basketball job. All parts of his fondest wishes had been answered, from those of the coach to those of the father.

Could it get much better on this Monday night, than to be Rick Pitino?

"I don't think it's possible," Richard said. "It just shows you the highs and lows of sports. When you're in it this long, you've probably seen it it all."

There was Pitino's wife, Joanne, barely able to talk.

"I can't put it into words," she said. "I can't put my head around it."

Nearby were the players he had led to this high place.

Luke Hancock, the supersub who had shot his way to the Most Outstanding Player Award: "He should play the lottery."

Chane Behanan, holding the championship trophy: "He's going into the Hall of Fame. But this might even be better than the Hall of Fame."

Peyton Siva, the senior who gave him his first hug as a champion: "He has to be the luckiest guy in the world right now. It means a lot to him. He even said he was going to get a tattoo. You know I told him he has to get it on his lower back. He said, 'Does it sting?' "

Later, Hancock added, "I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he signed up for that one."

Pitino had said that he didn't want to think about what this history meant. The Cardinals' sense of family and team was too strong for any of that nonsense.

He had said there was nothing significant if he should break new ground Monday night and win a national championship for a second school. "I'd be a total hypocrite if I said it's really important," Pitino mentioned Sunday. "It really is not important."

Oh yes it is.

It's important because no one else has ever done it in basketball. Not Wooden. Not Krzyzewski. None of the giants, although Roy Williams came very close.

It's important because the annals of the Final Four is richer for a story as ironic as this. That a man would take Kentucky to the top, and then return one day to take its most loathed neighbor to the same place. A double dose of magic in a basketball-crazed state.

It's important because Rick Pitino is 60 and it is time to start thinking about legacy, whether he wants to or not. One national championship is hard. Two are exceptional. Two in different area codes are unheard of. Pitino has always cut an imposing figure in coaching, and today it is even larger.

And it's important for the way it came, in a scintillating, nobody-would-say-uncle 82-76 championship game that did honor to the NCAA Tournament it concluded.

In the end, the hot-blooded college basketball regular season was not lying. This sport is at its best when chaotic, and so it was Monday night, to Michigan's last gasp.

The Cardinals took Michigan's best punches, and never flinched. They roared to the finish line winning 16 in a row, impervious to the pressure, their purpose only heightened at the sight of Kevin Ware on crutches.

"This was really, really special," Pitino said. "I was glad to be a part of this team."

He had challenged them after the five-overtime loss at Notre Dame in February; a great game he feared might have been lost mentally.

"I gave them very demanding goals," he said. "I said, 'It's not probable what I'm about to say to you, but I think it's possible.' "

Then he said they could win out, take the Big East tournament, get the No. 1 seed, storm to the national championship. All of it. "We were quite open about it," he said. "When you set demanding goals, you really do have to focus in and pay attention to that.

"To be honest with you, I'm just so amazed that they should accomplish everything that we put out there. I'm absolutely amazed as a basketball coach."

There were parts that came together from hither and yon. There were four states and two countries represented in the Cardinals' starting lineup, and none of them from Kentucky. Hancock transferred in from George Mason.

They moved as a wave. Louisville entered Monday night putting up 79 points a game in the NCAA Tournament, but only Smith averaging double figures.

And at times it was a struggle. In both Final Four wins, the Cardinals had to come back from 12-point deficits. Monday, they had to beat a Michigan team that shot 52%.

"If everything's given to you all the time," Pitino said, "you don't become a family."

Nothing was given to them Monday night. Albrecht, who came into the game with a 1.8 scoring average, nearly became a Michigan folk hero.

But maybe it was just destined. Saturday, just as Louisville was pushing past Wichita State with the help of 34 points by reserves, a Pitino-owned horse named Goldencents was winning the ninth race at Santa Anita. The winner of the 10th race? Points Offthebench.

It was during the timeout with 15:57 left that the new Hall of Fame inductees were introduced, including Pitino. The crowd roared, but he was too busy exhorting his basketball family to notice. Michigan led 46-43.

"I don't care what I face," he had said the day before of adversity, "I can fight it."

His team fought to give him an historic championship Monday night. As a bonus, it was his 664th victory, and ties John Wooden for 25th all-time. To be in Wooden's company is always special for a coach, especially on the night of a national championship.

"I think when he looks back and reflects on his career," Richard said, "he's got a lot of to really proud of."